My plan is to mine over winter and use the heat generated to heat my apartment.
Thus is a good idea. You may get some inspiration from
my miner.
I was also thinking about adding in some solar panels.
I think ArtForz should follow up this idea. His ASIC does 200 Mhash/s at only 8 watts, and can probably be variably clocked to follow the MPP of a small 10W solar panel. It would take considerable time for an investment in his miner to pay for itself, if ever, but what the heck. I run all my gadgets on solar power myself (anything which can be charged via USB), just for the fun of it. I get about 1 kWh per year from my smallish flexible panel, and it will of course never pay back the cost of the equipment. Sunlight is scarce and power is cheap where I live.